Building construction responsive to changing support condition



N0?- 7, 1967 R. c. L. JONES 3,350,821

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION RESPONSIVE TO CHANGING SUPPORT CONDITION Filed Jan. 11. 1965 United States Patent 0 3,350,821 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION RESPONSIVE T0 CHANGING SUPPORT 'CGNDITIGN Ronald Charles Lester Jones, Trentham, Stoke-on-Trent, England, assignor to The Potteries Motor Traction Company Limited, Stoke-on-Trent, England Filed Jan. 11, 1965, Ser. No. 440,043 2 Claims. (Cl. 52-122) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A building which can be safely erected on land subject to subsidence. The building has a plurality of columns tied together to prevent relative lateral movement between them whilst each column is mounted on an intermediate base which is itself supported by a main base, there being provided jacking means for vertically displacing each intermediate base relative to the main base and anti-friction means which permit each intermediate base to slide horizontally with respect to the column mounted thereon.

This invention relates to buildings and has for its object the provision of a building which can be safely erected on land which is subject to subsidence as a result of mining or other operations or natural causes.

In accordance with the invention there is provided a building having a plurality of columns which are tied together to prevent relative lateral movement or any substantial amount of relative lateral movement between the columns, each of said columns being mounted on an intermediate base which is itself supported by a main base, there being provided in association with each intermediate base jacking means whereby it can be displaced in a vertical direction relative to the main base, and the interengaging surfaces of each intermediate base and the associated column having anti-friction means which permit the intermediate base to slide laterally with respect to the associated column.

Conveniently, said inter-engaging surfaces of each column and the associated intermediate base are provided by a pair of steel plates, the juxtaposed surfaces of said plates being coated with a friction-reducing material such as polytetr-afluoroethylene, commonly known as p.t.f.e.

A building in accordance with the invention may have one main base (such as for example a concrete raft) which supports all the intermediate bases but preferably a plurality of main bases are provided one for each intermediate base, and in this case each main base may for example comprise a pile cap together with the associated pile.

The invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a view partly in elevation and partly in section of part of one example of a building in accordance with the invention.

In this example now to be described the building is designed for erection on land which is subject to subsidence as a consequence, for example, of mining operations. Such subsidence may include both vertical movement and lateral movement of the ground and furthermore the amount of such vertical movement and the amount of lateral movement, if any, may not be uniform over the whole area of the site concerned in any given period of time. Such differential movement of the ground can be extremely damaging to buildings of known construction but a building in accordance with the invention can nevertheless be erected on ground subject to differential vertical and lateral movement as aforesaid. To this end and referring to the drawing, the building is provided with a framework which may be constructed of structural steelwork, reinforced concrete, or other material, and which includes a plurality of vertically extending columns 10. Said columns are tied together as by means of members 11 connecting the bottoms of the columns so that said columns are prevented from lateral movement relative to each other. i

In association with each column there is provided an intermediate base 12 which may be formed from a block of concrete suitably reinforced as for example by a plurality of rolled steel joints, the flanges of which are indicated in dash lines 13. Each of said intermediate bases 12 is provided on its upper surface with a steel plate 14 and a further steel plate 15 is connected to the bottom of the associated column so that one steel plate bears on the other. Furthermore the juxtaposed, inter-engaging surfaces of the two steel plates 14 and 15 are coated with a friction-reducing material which may for example be the synthetic resin material commonly known as p.t.f.e. One of said interengagin'g plates is larger than the other, the plate 14 mounted on top of the intermediate base preferably being the larger as shown, but in any case the arrangement is such that the intermediate base 12 can slide laterally relative to the column 16 which it supports in the event of lateral movement of the ground, each intermediate base being set of course below ground level, indicated by line 16.

Each concrete block forming an intermediate base as above described is formed on each of two opposite sides with a recess 17 in which is disposed a jack 18 and each intermediate base is itself supported on a main base formed by a pile cap 19 and an associated pile 20. The jacks 18 provided in association with each intermediate base are disposed between said intermediate base and the associated main base and are thus adapted to displace the intermediate base relative to the main base in a vertical direction. Furthermore, means are provided for guiding the intermediate base 12 in such vertical movement and to this end each block forming an intermediate base is provided with guide tubes or sleeves 21 extending vertically upwardly from its lower surface, and guide rods 22 which are secured at their lower ends to the associated pile cap projecting into said tubes or sleeves so that the intermediate base will be guided in a vertical direction when jacking takes place.

Thus with a building as above described vertical subsidence can be accommodated by jacking the intermediate bases relative to the main bases to maintain the building on an even keel and it will of course be realized that differential vertical subsidence can be allowed for by displacing the individual intermediate bases by different amounts. ()nce the requisite amount of jacking has been elfected suitable packing may be inserted between the intermediate bases and the associated main bases. At the same time the provision of the aforementioned sliding connection between the base of each column and the coacting intermediate base will enable lateral movement of the ground to be accommodated. Different columns may may of course undergo different amounts of such lateral movement depending on the effective position of the center of rotation of the ground when such lateral movement occurs. The provision of steel plates coated with p.t.f.e. as above described results in a very low coefficient of friction between the bottoms of the columns and the intermediate bases so that any lateral movement of the ground can in fact be very easily accommodated. Any convenient form of seal or protection would preferably be provided between the coacting surfaces of each pair of steel plates in order to prevent the ingress of soil or other foreign material.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

'1. A building including a main base, a plurality of intermediate bases being supported by the main base, a plurality of columns with each column mounted on an associated intermediate base. means tying the columns together for preventing relative lateral movement therebetween, vertically movable elevating means operably related with each intermediate base and the main base whereby each intermediate base can be displaced vertically relative to the main base, guide means for each intermediate base and main base for guiding the vertical movement of each intermediate base relative to the main base, and anti-friction means located between the interengaging surfaces of each intermediate base and the column mounted thereon for permitting each intermediate base to slide in a horizontal plane with respect to the associated column.

2. A building including a plurality of columns, means tying the columns together for preventing relative lateral movements therebetween, a plurality of main bases and a plurality of intermediate bases, each main base supporting an associated intermediate base with an associated column mounted on said intermediate base, vertically movable jack means operably related between each intermediate base and each main base whereby each intermediate base can be displaced vertically relative to its main base, guide means for each intermediate base and each main base for guiding the vertical movement of each intermediate base relative to its main base, said guide means comprising a tubular sleeve fixed in the intermediate base and a pin fixed in the associated main base s lidably mounted in said sleeve, and antifriction means located between the inter-engaging surfaces of each intermediate base and the column mounted thereon for permitting each intermediate base to slide in a horizontal plane with respect to the associated column.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,055,000 9/1936 Bacigalupo 52-167 2,448,936 9/1948 Van Zandt 308 3,006,606 10/1961 Pohl et al. 248354 3,030,730 4/1962 Costar 248-23 X 3,243,236 3/1966 Graham 3083 3,282,543 11/1966 Engels 3083 FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

R. S. VERMUT, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A BUILDING INCLUDING A MAIN BASE, A PLURALITY OF INTERMEDIATE BASES BEING SUPPORTED BY THE MAIN BASE, A PLURALITY OF COLUMNS WITH EACH COLUMN MOUNTED ON AN ASSOCIATED INTERMEDIATE BASE, MEANS TYING THE COLUMNS TOGETHER FOR PREVENTING RELATIVE LATERAL MOVEMENT THEREBETWEEN, VERTICALLY MOVABLE ELEVATING MEANS OPERABLY RELATED WITH EACH INTERMEDIATE BASE AND THE MAIN BASE WHEREBY EACH INTERMEDIATE BASE CAN BE DISPLACED VERTICALLY RELATIVE TO THE MAIN BASE, GUIDE MEANS FOR EACH INTERMEDIATE BASE AND MAIN BASE FOR GUIDING THE VERTICAL MOVEMENT OF EACH INTERMEDIATE BASE RELATIVE TO THE MAIN BASE, AND ANTI-FRICTION MEANS LOCATED BETWEEN THE INTERENGAGING SURFACES OF EACH INTERMEDIATE BASE AND THE COLUMN MOUNTED THEREON FOR PERMITTING EACH INTERMEDIATE BASE TO SLIDE IN A HORIZONTAL PLANE WITH RESPECT TO THE ASSOCIATED COLUMN. 